19-20 June 2010 saw 33 RS200s arrive at Rutland SC for the annual sprint championships.  While the rest of the country apparently basked in sunshine, temperatures reminiscent of mid-winter were experienced – woolly hats, drysuits and thermals were the order of the day on Saturday!  To make up for the chilly temperature though, a solid F5-6 with bigger gusts blew on Saturday to give some fun sailing.  Sunday saw lighter breezes, but also a return to summer clothing as well.

The idea of the sprints is to have a series of short, sharp races each about 20mins long.  4 races were initially held in randomly selected flights, before competitors were seeded for a 3 race semi-final round and then a final gold/silver/bronze/emerald fleet 6 race final, with no discards allowed in any round.  This gave the PRO 52 races to get away, something he did in considerable style, probably due in no small part to the well used megaphone on the committee boat.

Saturday was dominated by both James Peters/Alan Roberts who won all 7 of their races and James Stewart/Toby Lewis, who would had won all their races, if they decided that capsizing 10m in front of the finish line in one race trying to avoid the committee boat was not a good idea.  Elsewhere, results were scattered as the gusts and shifts turned the race course into a set of snakes and ladders.  The final results though did see the fleet sorted for the finals on Sunday into what could possibly be termed ‘the pecking order’.

Sunday’s racing in the 8 boat gold fleet saw another stand out performance from Peters/Roberts who scored four 1sts, a 2^nd and 4^th to win comfortably.  Behind things were tight, with only 3 points separating 2-4 place and each of these boats counting at least a 6^th or 7^th place.  Dave & Jane Hivey did enough though to sneak 2^nd place, with Stewart/Lewis staying upright all day to grab third, by a single point from James Boyce/Sam Tozer.

The silver fleet looked as though it was going to be comfortably wrapped up by Hamish Walker/Clare Stubbs half way through the round, but Steve Janering/Marianthe Evangelidis and Charlotte Savage/MJ Gifford had other ideas, surging past to finish tied on points.  Janering/Evangelidis’ single race win gave them victory on count back from Savage/Gifford, with Walker/Stubbs in third.  Special mention should also go to Christian Humphrey/Noelle Vidal in this fleet for showing how tight the racing was by recording consecutive results of last, first, last and then first again!

The bronze fleet was won by Tom Hebbert/Jo Bailey by 1 point from Alex Taylor/Sam Lones, who were only 2 points in front of Paul & Pat Teague.  Emma Johnson/Karen Falcon took the chocolates in the emerald fleet, narrowly edging in front of James Williams/Steven Clayton in 2^nd and Rob Ashman/Sarah Long in 3^rd.

Overall, a cracking weekend’s sailing.  Many thanks to Rutland SC for hosting with aplomb, the PRO and his team for getting through so many races without a hitch and to Gul for providing sponsorship.

The 200’s are now only 4 weeks away from visiting lake Garda and the practice events are coming up thick and fast.  Next up is Eastbourne on 3/4 July 2010, before Exe on 17/18.